Sat Radio Sound Quality

[Fingolfin269]

I'm thinking about picking up XM or Sirius but am concerned about the sound quality. I have local talk radio stations that satisfy my need for Fox Sports and political talk but what I am looking for is a better music selection that only sat radio can provide.

I just need to know... am I going to be disappointed with the sound quality? I've heard it doesn't sound nearly as good as FM radio but this is based on opinions from people who had the service a couple of years ago and I hope that the quality has improved.

Oh, one other thing, I really don't want this to turn into another XM vs. Sirius thread unless it directly relates to sound quality.

 

[Pepsi90919]

it sounds like a 96 kbps mp3

 

[49erinnc]

I have Sirius but you can't go wrong with either. Satellite > local radio, period.

As for sound quality, I don't notice any drop at all when I switch from local to satellite. Back when I was using one of those mountable units from Audiovox that broadcasts through a FM station, I did notice less-than-steller sound performance. But ever since I picked up a Sirius-ready head unit and converter, I have had no complaints. Sounds great!

 

[Gravity]

I got XM and it's pretty good quality. I use it on my motorcycle with some E6I earphones and the sound is very crisp.

 

[shortylickens]

Audio quality is excellent.
Programming quality leaves a lot to be desired.

I got rid of XM when they jacked up the price.
For the previous year they had been going downhill in program quality and kicking up the commercial time.
Lots of channels that didnt have commercials started to get them, and the channels that used to have one advertisement per hour started to get 10 or more.

When they wanted to jack up the rates I said "bite me".

 

[davestar]

depends on your ear. if FM radio sounds OK to you, then Sirius/XM will be fine. they sound crappy in their own unique ways, but i'd say that FM and satellite are comparable.

CD quality audio it certainly ain't.

 

[Sheep]

Originally posted by: davestar
depends on your ear. if FM radio sounds OK to you, then Sirius/XM will be fine. they sound crappy in their own unique ways, but i'd say that FM and satellite are comparable.

CD quality audio it certainly ain't.

This is about right, IMO.

If you're not listening on high-end speakers or headphones, it should be fine. All my XM listening is done in the car, so road noise hides a lot of the flaws.

 

[torpid]

WTF... satellite radio sounds several orders of magnitude better than FM. At least here. Some songs will sound better than othes, as the bit rate or encoding or something is clearly better. But there is absolutely no contest for SQ where I live, Satellite wins easily.

The only reason you will be disappointed is if you are expecting CD quality as sirius and XM seem to advertise.

 

[Excelsior]

Some of you must have some sh!t FM stations, cause properly tuned local stations should sound damn good.

 

[theNEOone]

i am by no means an audiophile, but i can definitely notice that my xm has lower quality than FM and is significantly lower quality than CD. i particularly hate how they jack up the bass on their transmission - it screws up my EQ settings when i switch from either radio or CD.


=|

 

[Spineshank]

If you use the FM Transmitter then yes youll be dissapointed.

 

[Rubycon]

It may depend on the receiver too.

We have a receiver and that's all it is. This outputs a signal - still in the digital domain - to a few other processors and filters and finally it's sent to its destination. The output can sound horrendous like a 64kbps VBR to very fine approaching a cd. I've heard the portable consumer players through earbuds and they sound far worse. With the UE10's they are downright harsh.

I'm an accomplished musican and audiophile and VERY biased so as always, your smileage will vary.

 

[Eos]

Sounds fine in a car when the road noise is up there a bit. It's not meant to be audiophile quality. Tradeoffs, man. Tradeoffs.

 

[spidey07]

It sounds ok. You can tell it is really compressed dynamically.

I'd call it worse than FM.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Excelsior
Some of you must have some sh!t FM stations, cause properly tuned local stations should sound damn good.

Very true. FM can even sound better than a CD. It just takes a good tuner.

My analog FM tuner at home can sound VERY good.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Excelsior
Some of you must have some sh!t FM stations, cause properly tuned local stations should sound damn good.

Very true. FM can even sound better than a CD. It just takes a good tuner.

My analog FM tuner at home can sound VERY good.

Yeah for great sounding commercials:roll:

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Excelsior
Some of you must have some sh!t FM stations, cause properly tuned local stations should sound damn good.

Very true. FM can even sound better than a CD. It just takes a good tuner.

My analog FM tuner at home can sound VERY good.

FM Sounds worse for VOICE though. It just adds a color to the sound that I don't like.

 

[spidey07]

Ever try a good analog tuner? Like some of the old stuff?

 

[sygyzy]

Audio quality is excellent. When I listen to FM now, I cringe for the first 10 seconds before I can adjust. It's not CD but much better than FM/AM.

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Ever try a good analog tuner? Like some of the old stuff?

Yes indeed. The one that I could stand listening to was The Fisher Model 800-B from the sixties. It's tube of course (12AX7 preamp/7951 Output) so the harshness is mellowed out but still.



Like I said - picky, picky, picky!

I miss those old analog receivers with the flywheel that let you twist the knob with a flick and cover 88-108 MHz in a second. It would just glide through the entire public band - we used to do it during frat parties and the person that could id the most songs in a pass won. Everyone that guessed wrong had to take off a piece of clothing. :Q

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Excelsior
Some of you must have some sh!t FM stations, cause properly tuned local stations should sound damn good.

Very true. FM can even sound better than a CD. It just takes a good tuner.

My analog FM tuner at home can sound VERY good.

Aye. I remember reading an article about an enthusiast who decided to go all out with his FM reception. He wired up a good antenna in the attic, set it up properly, and promptly fooled many of his friends/guests. They thought they were listening to a CD, the SQ was so good.

Hell, even with my dinky antenna that came with my receiver, I get pretty good reception/SQ.

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: MS Dawn

Originally posted by: spidey07
Ever try a good analog tuner? Like some of the old stuff?

Yes indeed. The one that I could stand listening to was The Fisher Model 800-B from the sixties. It's tube of course (12AX7 preamp/7951 Output) so the harshness is mellowed out but still.



Like I said - picky, picky, picky!

I miss those old analog receivers with the flywheel that let you twist the knob with a flick and cover 88-108 MHz in a second. It would just glide through the entire public band - we used to do it during frat parties and the person that could id the most songs in a pass won. Everyone that guessed wrong had to take off a piece of clothing. :Q

I have an old Pioneer tuner that has one of those knobs. I love it! Its a bit slower than that though...takes more than one flick. Still fun though.

 

[FrustratedUser]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Excelsior
Some of you must have some sh!t FM stations, cause properly tuned local stations should sound damn good.

Very true. FM can even sound better than a CD. It just takes a good tuner.

My analog FM tuner at home can sound VERY good.

I'm sure but FM radio only covers an audio spectrum up to 15kHz, not 20kHz which is what humans (theoretically) can hear is the spec for something to be called HiFi.

 

[spacelord]

When we had free Satellite radio in our car for the first 3 months.. I thought it sounded a bit like squishy MP3s.. maybe 128kbps sounding or so.